Fettercairn Distillery Releases 18 Year Old 2024

Scotland’s Highland distillery Fettercairn has released the latest edition of its 18 Year Old Single Malt Whisky. Available annually, Fettercairn 18 Year Old is finished in responsibly-sourced, native Scottish Oak and shines a light on provenance and innovation.

Nestled in the foothills of the Cairngorm Mountains, the team at Fettercairn, which this year celebrates 200 years of imaginative whisky making, are pioneers of provenance, with the quality and extra effort to use locally sourced ingredients evident in every drop.

Only locally-sourced barley from farms within a 50 mile radius of the distillery is used and, when it comes to distilling, Fettercairn’s stills are crowned with unique copper cooling rings, which cascade ice cold water from the nearby mountains down the outside. This innovation cools the stills, and allows only the lightest vapors to rise, creating the whisky’s characteristic tropical house style.

For Fettercairn 18 Year Old, this effort also extends to the cask, as part of an ongoing new initiative. Fettercairn’s Master Whisky Maker Gregg Glass first started to implement the award-winning Scottish Oak Programme eight years ago, bringing a new approach to whisky making. This innovative program has been developed to ultimately future-proof the industry, whilst creating a circular economy by encouraging the use of 100% native wood in whisky making.

That wood produces the new Scottish oak used to finish the whisky. Primary maturation is carried out in first fill and refill ex-bourbon American White Oak barrels. The single malt whisky is bottled at 46.8% ABV.

The small batch Fettercairn 18 Year Old is the first expression of the program, released annually as a limited-edition due to its rarity. First unveiled in 2022, this is only the third time the expression has been made available.

Fettercairn 18 Year Old 2024 has a recommended price of £212.